


Two Truths and a Lie

by feverbeats



Category: Demon's Lexicon - Sarah Rees Brennan, Thor (2011)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-25
Updated: 2011-06-25
Packaged: 2017-10-20 17:42:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/215371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feverbeats/pseuds/feverbeats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Your patron god, perhaps. That would be one way to think of it."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Truths and a Lie

Alan means to tell Nick about the magician the first night he shows up, all clean orange fire in his hands and flickering, wounded eyes.

"What do you want?" Alan asks when the man knocks on the door in the middle of the night. Alan's gun is already in his hand.

The magician smiles. "Anything I say, Alan Ryves, will be a lie." He tosses the fireball lightly and catches it again. "Let me in."

Alan obeys without meaning too, stumbling slightly as he backs into the room and hating himself for it. "You need to leave." They should have been ready for this, they're protected, this shouldn't be _happening_ \--

"I'm not a magician," the man says as if he's read Alan's mind. He snaps his fingers and the fireball disappears. "I thought you might understand me better if I were, but I can see now you're afraid of them."

"What are you, then?" Alan asks, unconvinced. Magicians lie as easily as blinking.

"A god." The man smiles, but nothing about the expression actually looks happy. "Your patron god, perhaps. That would be one way to think of it."

The world is huge, Alan knows, but he's never met anyone who claimed to be a god before. "Prove it," he snaps. "Or get out. I'd rather you chose the second option, actually." Nick is a light sleeper, and Alan doesn't need him seeing this.

"I will do both," the man says. "The second now, the first later. And remember, Alan Ryves: you will always be a liar."

Alan blinks, and the man is gone.

*

He doesn't show up again for, if Alan had been counting, a year and a day. This time, Nick is at school and Alan has a day off work. He's working on translating a scroll when there's a breeze from nowhere, and suddenly the not-a-magician is standing next to his desk.

Alan makes an undignified noise and goes for his gun before he realizes who it is. The man looks even sterner and sadder in daylight.

"You," Alan says.

"Yes." The man inclines his head slightly. "You remembered." He glances at Alan's scroll. "Old Norse. I could help with that." The corner of his mouth turns up in what looks like a genuine--and somewhat horrible--smile. "My name is Loki, by the way. I don't think I mentioned it last time."

Alan knows all about the myths of Loki, the jötunn trickster, Odin's blood brother, mother of monsters who wreaked havoc on the world of the gods. This man does not look like a trickster. " _The_ Loki?" he asks politely. His hand is still on his gun.

"Half the things you've heard are true," Loki says softly. "But yes. _The_ Loki."

Alan nods. Whether or not it's true, it's apparently the only answer he's going to get. "And why are you here?"

"Your brother," Loki says. "He's not your brother, is he?"

Alan freezes up. Of course it's about Nick. It always is. " _Leave,_ " he grinds out through his teeth.

"Answer the question," Loki says, his voice suddenly vicious, "and I will."

"Of course he's my brother," Alan spits.

Loki looks at him for a long moment before disappearing.

*

"He can't lie," Loki says thoughtfully. He's sitting across the kitchen table from Alan, watching Nick train in the garden through the window. The horns on his helmet make him look incongruous in the tiny kitchen. It's been exactly a year and a day since his last visit.

"He doesn't lie," Alan says carefully.

Loki ignores him. "I can't imagine a worse fate than not being able to lie."

Alan realizes with a shock how violently he agrees with Loki. He's never really thought of being in Nick's position in that way.

Loki tilts his head, still watching Nick. The setting sun glances off Loki's horns and lights Nick up as if from the inside. "A changeling," Loki says softly. "A demon bastard from a colder realm. It must be frustrating for you, dealing with him."

Alan hands are shaking. Loki knows far too much. "It's not," he says sharply. "I love him."

Loki nods. "I have a brother, too. I thought, for a while, that your Nick might be like him. A war machine. But I wasn't thinking clearly. I didn't see. I think I see now."

Alan feels as though he's been dropped into the middle of something far too large for him. "You need to go soon. He's going to come back inside. I--made dinner." He hates the hesitation in his voice.

Loki stands. "Of course. All those normal, human things. He won't respond to them. Not ever." He laughs, but his laughter sounds choked, just as all his smiles are wrong.

Before Alan can answer, Nick turns abruptly and makes his way back toward the house. When Alan looks back at Loki, he's gone.


End file.
